At Long Last
by Miss Deirdra
Summary: Leah finally returns home after 5 years away at school. Once home, she is needed to heal a lone wolf who is injured. What lies in store for her and her salt and pepper wolf? What does it mean for Leah to find what she has been missing at long last?


**At Long Last**

**Oneshot**

**Hello, my lovelies. I hope all is well. I wrote this to kind of go with my other Leah oneshot, **_**Parting is Such Sweet Sorrow**_**, but you do not have to read that to understand (but feel free to read it if you want to!) Now, this is a Leah and my own character Imprint. Any and all recognizable characters, abilities and places do not belong to me.**

**Enjoy!**

I waited as patiently as I could while exiting the airplane. While my flight had been only 4 hours, it had been long, with a poor baby screaming because her ears hurt, to my rude neighbor, who complained about it, even after I told him to shut up. My years away from the reservation had calmed me down considerably; but I still maintained the right to let my queen bitch spring free, sometimes.

As soon as I was free of the slowly encroaching walls of the plane I bolted towards the baggage carousals. Halfway towards the correct one I was mowed over by a large, warm man.

"Leah! You're ho-me!" my over enthusiastic brother cried happily. "I missed you, sissy." He whispered into my neck where his nose was smushed between my shoulder and neck.

"I know- I missed you too, Sethy." Seth and I were closer to each other than most siblings were; I was six years his elder and had taken care of him his entire life. Not to say that our mother wasn't a good mother, she was just an absent one. And her recent death piled on top of me being half way across the country and then some, he need to be near me and I needed to be near him.

When we finally stood I noticed Jacob Black standing to my right, grinning at me. He gave me a moment to recover my balance before sweeping me up into an all encompassing bear hug. He too smushed his nose into the crook of my neck.

"I know- I missed you too." I also had a weird relationship with my alpha and the rest of our rag-tag pack. While maintaining my mother of all harpies act, I had the maternal instinct of a bear, I guess you could say. My pack, they were my boys, the men who found themselves without female influence who needed me in a way I couldn't deny. And so my mothering instincts kicked in and I became the 'den mother' of sorts.

"Wait 'till everyone sees you!" Jacob exclaimed joyfully. "You look good Lee. I like the hair cut." He smiled happily, and I knew what he was thinking, our small improvised family would be together again. I was back to stay, just like I had promised when I had taken off, 5 years prior.

"Let's get my stuff and get home. I wanna see all my boys."

Three and a half hours later we were in our territory, my home soil. The small town of La Push had prospered in my absence. The houses were less shabby and the road had less pot holes. Those small changes had made all the difference. Once we got to the right turn off, Jacob veered in the opposite direction.

"Wha…?"

"Well we thought that it would be a better idea if we sold the old family house and made you a new one, thought you might like the space." Jacob informed me smugly. We boys have a bigger one, just next door, but we'll be over at your all the time; so don't worry!" Before we even had stopped the truck fully my door was wrenched open and I was pulled into a strong arms. Quil and Embry smiled and smushed their noses simultaneously into the crooks of my neck.

Placing my hands on their heads I held onto them. Out of the four of them, only Jacob and Seth had been down to see me, the other two couldn't every time I could have them. And after all, five years is a long time.

Hours later we all sat around my brand new TV and watched some action movie. I was lounging on the couch with Seth sleeping on my left and Embry on my right, with Jacob and Quil sleeping on my thighs. When suddenly there was a crashing noise and a gargled moan. All four boys leapt to their feet in an instant, and started to make their way to the front door.

"What is it?" I had lost all my wolfy-ness in my five year jaunt away from all the stresses of the reservation and (more likely than not) being away from Sam and all my bad past.

"Leah, do ya think that you'd be able to put all that schooling into use on a wolf boy?" Embry looked at me form under his long hair that had flopped down into his face. I craned my neck to look at him. "Good, ya might wanna go and get some medical supplies, 'cause that wolf out there needs some TLC."

Sprinting upstairs to get my things, I tripped on the last few steps and scraped my knees and the palms of my hand on landing, breaking the skin. I could feel the blood running down my forearms and shins, but knowing firsthand how fast the wolves healed I just kept going.

Not even 5 minutes later I was in front of the house and promptly went into nurse mode.

"Someone turn on the porch lights, and let's get him calmed down. Jacob," I said addressing the large russet wolf, "Calm him down. Tell him who I am and what I am doing. Also find out what happened. Name would be good too.

"Alright, I am just going to look at your wounds, I'll tell you what I see and what I'll do. Just focus on my voice and for the love of all that is good and holy, do not fall asleep. OK, now you have large gashes on your, um, hip. I am going to have to find out how deep they are, or if there is any foreign substance in them. Jacob, was it a vampire that did this?" The giant wolf nodded, and huffed. "Was he anywhere near its mouth?" another huff and a shake of the head no.

"Ok, good, this means all we have to do is calm him down and get him phased back, his body will do the rest." I walked around to face the salt and pepper colored wolf in the eye. Once our eyes met, the wolf let out a whimper and moved his nose over me, like he was looking for injuries. Once he had deemed my head and torso fine, he let out a loud animalistic growl and placed his body before me.

"Hey, shh." I said presenting him with my palm. "There is nothing wrong, I just tripped up the stairs when I went to go and get my supplies to help you. Minor injuries, I promise." The large wolf turned his head to look at me, and calmed down visibly.

"Now, I want you to focus on my voice. Good! Now, I want you to think of yourself as a human. Um, picture the way you look, the way it feels to walk on two legs and the way it feels like to be not so furry. Just keep calm, I'm right here, waiting." For the next ten minutes I kept up with my calming, shift back to human talk that worked on the boys when they needed it.

Yet in reality I was freaking out. Shit, shit, SHIT! He freakin' imprinted on me! Me! I was unable to logically think it through, I felt it too. I mean, not on the scale the boys had when they looked at their better halves, but in a way the girls said it felt like. I had happy, butterfly feelings somewhere deep in the pit of my stomach. A pair of warm hands on my face pulled me out of my musings.

"Are you ok, mo ghrá(my love)?" the man in front of me was once again trying to check me over for injuries.

"I'm fine. Who are you? I mean, um…." Me, Leah Clearwater, once queen bitch, and femme fatal, was flustered by just one look from this man.

"Liam, and you, my lovely are Leah. Right?" Liam gave a lopsided smile.

By that point I had been able to move my gaze from his unique salt and pepper colored eyes (I had always found it weird that our wolf fur color was our eye color) to take in his outward appearance. He had slightly boyish features, yet he looked older than me. On his head sat a mop of outrageous bright red hair, a mystery in of itself, seeing as he had the same dark skin that I did. His muscles were spectacular, yet they were slightly understated, he was wirier than my boys, who were pure bulk. It was then in my scrutiny that he and I realized his state of undress.

Liam just smiled sheepishly at me and shrugged. And his hands began to explore my face, tracing my eyebrows, and his hands trailing down my temples to my cheekbones. All I could do was stand still, transfixed by the wonderful feeling it created. I could feel myself become slowly aroused and pushed my body against his, which I could feel responding.

"Ahem! If you two are very much finished. I have pants for Liam and I'd rather not see Leah groped on her front lawn, in front of all of us." Quil announced rather loudly. "Why don't we go inside and have Liam tell us what the hell happened."

And in that instant all hell broke loose again, Liam spun to face Quil and growled loudly. He took a protective stance in front of me and settled his gaze on Quil, who looked ready to defend himself.

"Look, pal, I don't know who you think you are, but that girl behind you, she's ours and if you think I'd hurt her you are sorely mistaken. Now, drop the protective stance and take the pants." Quil growled from where he was. Liam just growled back.

"She's _mine_." I almost groaned out loud, boys!

"Liam? It's alright, I am yours, I won't leave you." I walked around his huge frame to look at him in the eyes. "See? I'm right here." His hands once again began to inspect my body for injuries, once he and his wolf were satisfied he began to nuzzle my neck.

"Good, see I'm alright. Liam, you've got to learn that those boys, they are my boys. Now, your just gonna have to learn to share me with them, and learn that they will protect me _almost_ as much as you will." I could feel Liam's hesitation, but eventually he agreed. "Good, now let's get you inside so you can heal and tell us about yourself." As we entered the house and passed Quil I smacked him upside the head.

"Ow! That actually hurt!"

"Good thing I kept something from that whole debacle!"

"What debacle? What happened to you?" Liam looked concerned and the boys shot Quil a look, like it was his fault.

"Well, um… I'll tell you another time, right now I think you need to eat, and rest." Everyone looked hesitant but eventually agreed after I promised them food.

I almost sighed out loud in relief, another potential catastrophe avoided! Don't get me wrong, I would eventually tell Liam about my former wolfy-ness and all the mumbo jumbo stuff that went on with it, but after only just meeting him? Absolutely not! That thought scared the crap outta me. I had only just met the guy, yet I felt tied to him in ways that only confirmed the imprint.

Coming out of my reverie I noticed Liam watching my every move carefully, almost as if he were afraid that I would end up hurting myself again by falling. Well I had news for him, I was no Bella Swan!

After I had fed all the boys and Liam I watched them clean up, as per tradition. I cook for them, and they clean it up. Liam kept glancing at me from the corner of his eye and each time our gazes met and held, creating a constant thrill through my body that landed right in my core. By the time the kitchen was clean I was squirming in my seat.

It seemed that then the boys decided to head to their own home. As each one of them said goodbye, the hugged me tight and repeated the act of inhaling my scent. Jacob hung back and took Liam aside, to talk he claimed. He even took him far enough away that even with my still sensitive hearing I wouldn't be able to hear them.

Once they disappeared from my line of vision I start to fidget. By the time Liam opened the door downstairs I had already unpacked all my luggage. As I started towards the front door, Liam seemed to materialize in my open bedroom door.

"Leah." He looked at me oddly, then crossed the room in two long strides and gathered me up into his arms. "Leah." I could hear his smile and feel it in the crook of my neck. I simply mirrored him and nuzzled my nose into the crook of his neck.

"Mo ghile (my god), you are an amazing woman, I will spend my life proving to you that I am worthy of you." His tone was one of awe and reverence. "Just from what Jacob had told me and what I saw in their minds, mo dhia! I cannot believe that someone, that my own brother!"

"Wait! What do you mean, your brother? Figuratively, or literally?!" I exclaimed. I watched as Liam's face became a mask, preventing all emotions from crossing his face.

"Mo sí-mac tire (my she-wolf), I am here actually to find my brother and ever elusive father." He spat his last word, as if it were worse than a cuss.

"My mother, she recently told me if my dual heritage, as if I hadn't figured it out! I mean look at me!" and oh boy, did I! He was beautiful; something that I couldn't wait to have belong to me! "I came here looking for answers, that, that _man_, he come tells her he loves her, then up and takes off as soon as she tells him she's pregnant! I mean, what kind of man does that?!" I could feel Liam shaking in an 'I will turn wolf on you' way.

"Sh, Liam its ok, I understand, it's ok. Without him you wouldn't be here and I wouldn't have you. I mean it's only been what? 4 hours since we met and I have already fallen for you!" it took us both a minute to figure out what I had said. Once it had sunk in my eyes became as wide as saucers! Oh, my, God, what the hell had I said?! It took Liam longer, but once it had he took my face into his hands and lifted it so my eyes were looking into his.

"Do you mean it?" I nodded my head 'yes'. "Oh, Leah, mo sí-mac tire (my she-wolf). I love you; since the moment I laid eyes on you! I mean, how could I not?" I felt as if my heart would burst, with those words all the pain and sadness in my heart was replaced with an irreplaceable love and happiness took residence there.

With my introspection happened Liam had leaned down and pressed his lips onto mine. His kiss was fulfilling and slowly I could feel my body responding.

I could see our future in front of me; love, laughter and happiness. I saw my swollen stomach and then little babies. Our paths were laid out before us and here in his arms, I found my home. At long last I felt at peace, I felt as if the world had finally become whole. At long last I was loved like I should be.

_**FIN**_

**What did you all think? I am sorry I left it there, I did try to write a 'lemon' but I found that I could and what I did write was a little (err, a lot) off. Anyways, hope you enjoyed! And please feel free to leave reviews, any are accepted and critical ones are appreciated!**

**Love always, Miss Deirdra**


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